CHAPTER IX. 



NOVA ZEMBLA AND LANDS BEYOND. 



THE preceding notice of the Land of the Samoides, to 

 which we have been led by taking notice of the northern 

 coast lands of Lapland, has led us out from the forests, if 

 not beyond the forest-lands, of Northern Russia; and 

 having ventured so far, surely we may venture across the 

 narrow strait beyond, and take a glance at Nova Zembla, 

 or Novaia Zemblia the New Land before we betake 

 ourselves to the study of the forest economy of the land 

 whither we have found our way. This projects from the 

 most northern point of Russia in Europe, near to its 

 eastern boundary, from which it is separated by the 

 Waygatz Shoals. With an exception, which will after- 

 wards be referred to, it may be said to be uninhabited; 

 but it is visited by fishermen and hunters, who are sent 

 out by the merchants of Archangel and Mezen to obtain 

 whales and walrusses. It is generally spoken of as one 

 island, but being traversed by a narrow crooked passage 

 from west to east, there are two large islands, with some 

 lesser ones on the coast. Coal and asphaltum have been 

 found in the interior, and there exists a salt lake there. 



A writer in Blackwood's Magazine, in the issue for Sep- 

 tember 1883, who appears to be keenly alive to the plea- 

 sure experienced in the chase, and who came home with 

 the crew of the ill-fated ' Eira,' supplies some interesting 

 details in regard to this land, amongst others these : 



* Being far out of the way of all our merchant routes, 

 and only approachable during the summer over the, even 

 then, ice-encumbered sea, Nova Zembla will probably long 

 remain one of the last refuges of the reindeer ; while its 



